JP Morgan va fusionner neuf compartiments luxembourgeois dans le cadre de la réorganisation de sa gamme de fonds européens faisant suite à une revue stratégique, révèle Citywire Global, qui publie la liste des produits concernés. Huit autres fonds, dont les noms ne sont pas encore connus, seront fusionnés dans les deux mois qui viennent.Selon Financial News, qui évoque aussi dans un article publié vendredi les fusions de fonds, les gammes de fonds de JP Morgan aux Etats-Unis et en Asie vont aussi faire l’objet d’une revue stratégique.

Mirabaud Asset Management a reçu l’agrément au Luxembourg pour le lancement de son fonds d’obligations convertibles mondiales, rapporte Citywire Global. Il sera ensuite déployé en Europe. La société avait annoncé la création d’un tel fonds lors du recrutement de Nicolas Cremieux, un ancien gérant de Dexia. Jusqu’ici, le fonds était en incubation.

La dernière phase du projet de transformation stratégique de RHJ International (RHJI), qui devient une société de services financiers spécialisés après avoir été un holding diversifié gérant une portefeuille d’actifs industriels, va se concrétiser par un changement du nom en Kleinwort Benson Group, a annoncé la société, qui attend à présent pour fin septembre une décision de la BaFin sur l’acquisition projetée de la BHF Bank auprès de la Deutsche Bank.Les activités de banque d’affaires seront transférées vers une nouvelle entité juridique, dans laquelle RHJI détiendra une participation de 19%. Timothy Collins et d’autres parties investiront 20 millions de dollars (15 millions d’euros) en nouveaux capitaux propres afin de financer les activités pour une participation à hauteur de 81%. La nouvelle entité continuera d’opérer sous le nom de Kleinwort Benson Advisors LLC (KBA). La scission offre à la nouvelle entité Kleinwort Benson Group l’accès aux produits et services de la banque d’affaires sans l’exposition financière actuelle de RHJI."La participation de 13% au sein de l’associé gérant du Fonds Ripplewood est maintenue, bien qu’elle fasse l’objet d’une charge de dépréciation de 11,5 millions d’euros au premier semestre 2013 afin de refléter l'évolution de la juste valeur des investissements détenus au sein du fonds à la fin de la période», indique un communiqué. Par ailleurs, la cession de Shaklee a généré une perte de 13,7 millions et la cession d’autres activités a entraine une perte de 5,7 millions. Au total, sur le premier semestre, la perte consolidée à l’échelon du groupe est ressortie à 52,1 millions d’euros, mais la perte d’exploitation des segments d’activités de base (services financiers et holding) a diminué à 21,8 millions d’euros contre 22,2 millions pour le premier semestre 2012.Le rapport semestriel précise que l’encours de Kleinwort Benson Investors (KBI) s’est accru de 10 % à 4 milliards d’euros et que le bénéfice de KBI est ressorti à 1,1 million d’euros, soit trois fois et demie le montant enregistré pour l’ensemble de 2012. Les actifs gérés par Kleinwort Benson Wealth Management se sont accrus de 5 % à 5,4 milliards de livres (6,3 milliards d’euros). Ce segment accuse une perte de 8,3 millions livres (9, 8 millions d’euros) au premier semestre dont 2,2 millions de livres d’ajustements à la juste valeur négatifs sur le portefeuille de trésorerie qui devraient se résorber dans le temps. La perte sous-jacente de 6,1 millions de livres inclut également un investissement de 2,7 millions de livres «dans des opportunités de croissance à long terme», indique le rapport.

Le rapport intérimaire de Investeringsforeningen Jyske Invest International publié vendredi fait ressortir que les 32 compartiment composant le fonds affichaient fin juin un encours de 6.915 millions de couronnes danoises contre 7.130 millions fin décembre. Cette diminution de 3 % s’explique par 161 millions de sorties nettes (contre 74 millions pour la période correspondante de 2012) notamment pour les fonds d’actions et d’obligations à haut rendement, par une moins-value de 46 millions et par un effet de change négatif de 8 millions. De la sorte, précise le rapport, les revenus d’exploitation ont été insatisfaisants tout au long du premier semestre 2013.Les fonds d’actions ont généré une performance moyenne de 1,86 % pendant que les fonds obligataires ont perdu 3,80 % et que les fonds de stratégie affichaient des performances échelonnées entre – 296 % et + 8,86 %. Les fonds de stratégie et ceux d’obligations des pays développés ont enregistré des souscriptions nettes.A fin juin, l’encours des fonds de stratégie avait augmenté à 41 % du total contre 38,8 % six mois plus tôt tandis que celui des fonds d’obligations des pays dévoloppés avait augmenté à 13,1 % contre 12,8 %. La part des fonds d’actions a diminué à 21 % contre 22,9 % et celle des fonds d’obligations à haut rendement a diminué d’un point, à 24,9 %.

In July 2013, European asset management firms posted inflows totalling EUR26.76bn in net subscriptions, after net redemptions of EUR35bn in June, while equity funds posted the strongest net inflows, with EUR10.2bn, and bond funds have their weakest inflows since May 2012, with EUR5.5bn, Morningstar reports.In the first seven months of the year, net subscriptions totalled EUR207.1bn, of which EUR72.09bn were for bond funds, EUR67.78bn for allocation funds, and EUR39.43bn for equity funds.In the January-July period, JPMorgan has posted the strongest net subscriptions, with EUR16.14bn, followed by BlackRock (EUR14.35bn) and Franklin Templeton (EUR12.65bn). In fourth place is Pimco, with EUR9.15bn, followed by DWS, with EUR5.73bn.In July, the title goes to BlackRock with net subscriptions of EUR2.17bn, followed by JPMorgan (EUR1.67bn) and DWS (EUR858m). Only three major firms posted net redemptions in the month under review: Pimco, with EUR1.35bn, BNP Paribas (EUR849m) and UBS (EUR337m).

Allianz Global Investors has reduced its staff by 150 people, after launching a strategic reorganization, Financial Times fund management reports. This brings staff to 1,650. The German firm has announced that it has outsourced several positions in IT, middle and back office.

Before the long Labor Day weekend, Microsoft announced that it will be nominating a representative from ValueAct Capital Management as a director of the firm. This will be the first time that Microsoft has appointed a director that is not hand-picked.ValueAct, which considers itself a management-friendly activist investor, controls 0.80% of capital in Microsoft, which at current share prices is worth USD2.2bn; the asset management firm is said to have played a key role in the announced departure of Steve Ballmer from his position as CEO of Microsoft.It is expected that the CEO of Value Act, Mason Morfit, will hold regular meetings with a restricted number of Microsoft directors and managers. He may be elected as a director at the Microsoft general shareholders’ meeting in November.

In July, financial adviser networks in Italy posted net subscriptions of EUR1.3bn, according to statistics from Assoreti. Revenues from asset management in net brought in EUR1.7bn, an increase of 29% compared with June, while 64.9% of these inflows came via direct sales of shares in mutual funds, with net subscriptions of over EUR1.1bn.

The most recent phase of a strategic transformation project at RHJ International (RHJI), which is becoming a specialist financial services firm after having served as a diversified holding company to manage a portfolio of industrial assets, will result in a change in the name of the firm to Kleinwort Benson Group, the firm has announced. It now expects a decision by BaFin by the end of Septembder concerning its planned acquisition of BHF Bank from Deutsche Bank.The activities of the business bank will be transferred into a new legal entity, in which RHJI will hold a 19% stake. The new entity will continue to operate under the name Kleinwort Benson Advisors LLC (KBA).Overall, in first half, consolidated losses groupwide totalled EUR52.1m, but operating losses for basic activity segments (financial services and holding) fell to EUR21.8m, compared with EUR22.2m in first half 2012.The semiannual report states that AUM at Kleinwort Benson Investors (KBI) were up 10%, to EUR4bn, and that assets managed by Kleinwort Benson Wealth Management increased 5% to GBP5.4bn (EUR6.3bn).

UBS Global Asset Management (UBS GAM) has recruited Sammy Yip as head of ETF sales in Asia, a newly-created position, Asian Investor reports. Yip, who previously worked at Lippo Investment Management and SSgA, will be based in Hong Kong. UBS GAM has not yet listed any ETFs in Hong Kong or Singapore. Yip will thus initially be respnsible for sales of ETFs listed elsewhere in the world in Hong Kong and Singapore. ETFs from UBS have assets of USD13.1bn, listed in Australia, Germany, Italy, Switzerland, the United Kingdom and Korea, through a joint venture with UBS Hana Asset Management.

UBS Wealth Management has launched its first wealth management training programme for senior client advisers active in the region, The Asset reports. 22 senior advisers in Hong Kong and Singapore became the first to take the two-year training programme, which relies on experts from such big names as Harvard, Columbia, Princeton and the University of Zurich.

The China Insurance Regulatory Commission (CIRC) has granted approval for plans to create a fund management firm which would be a joint venture of China Life (with a 51% stake) and the Australian firm AMP Capital (49%). The joint capital in the new joint venture will be CNY588m.Now that the permission of the CIRC has been granted, the two partners may seek a final license from the China Securities Regulatory Commission (CSRC).The new asset management firm, which has already begun hiring, is expected to be launched by the end of the year, Z-Ben Advisors reports.

Stephan Keiser, head of private banking international since 2006 at Vontobel, where he had been head of Latin American markets, the Asia-Pacific region, the Middle East and Italy, will in January 2014 become head of private banking in Zurich at EFG Bank, the largest Swiss affiliate of EFG International. He will report to John Williamson, CEO of the group and CEO of EFG Bank.In his new role, Keiser will be responsible for overseeing the development of ETF Bank not only in Zurich but also in Latin America, Asia-Pacific and the Middle East.

Redemptions from emerging markets equity and bond funds hit nine week highs heading into September as the prospect of less accommodative US monetary policy pummeled equity indexes and currencies. Europe equity funds took in another USD1.3bn in the week ending August 28, but equity funds overall finished the week with net outflows of USD4.8bn, according to statistics from EPFR Global. Bond funds, for their part, saw redemptions totalling a net USD7.1bn. Net flows into money market funds were a modest USD1.7 billion as commitments to US funds were offset by redemptions from Europe and Japan money market funds.

Hedge funds which charge commissions of more than 20% from their clients are also the ones which bring the highest net returns over four to six years, according to a study by Preqin. These funds also post the highest risk-adjusted net returns, with a Sharpe ratio of 2.11 over a period of three years, compared with 1.18 for funds which charge a commission of 20%. Hedge funds which have a track record of at least three years and which have posted positive returns every month since their launch charge an average outperformance commission of 19.50%. However, funds which have posted positive returns over a period of less than one quarter of the months taken into account charge an average commission of 16.67%. However, investors are far from satisfied with the fee structured applied by the sector: 55% of them would like to see a reduction in management and performance commissions, although a majority of them feel that fee levels have improved, with 68% for management commissions and 58% for performance commissions. As a logical consequence of their dissatisfaction, 57% of investors would like to negotiate the terms of their contract, compared with 46% in 2012. Half of them would like to modify the terms of application for commissions, for example, extending them with the use of hurdle rates and clawbacks.

Assets in hedge funds investing in emerging markets in second quarter rose to a record USD154.9bn, according to the most recent edition of HFR for emerging markets. Inflows in second quarter totalled USD1.79bn, similar to the amount observed in first quarter (USD1.82bn). Over the past three quarters, inflows have totalled USD6.6bn. In second quarter, Equity Hedge strategies attracted USD1.5bn. In terms of regional flows, emerging Asia dominated, with inflows of USD734m. The HFRX Emerging Markets index earned returns of 1.3% in second quarter, and has earned 2.3% since the beginning of the year. The HFRX China index is up 7.5% since the beginning of the year.

The founders of hedge funds have a hard time planning for succession, the Financial Times finds in a long article on the subject. Most of them have decided that the matter is so complicated that they redeemed investors when they retired, or used their money to finance other firms. The reason is simple, the author of the study finds: the star hedge fund managers tend to be entrepreneus with egos and non-conformist opinions. That does not make them natural mentors or people who are likely to share power. The question of succession is important, since one third of assets in the hedge fund sector are managed by principal-founders who will be 60 years old in the next 10 years, a Deloitte survey finds. Some hedge funds, such as Highbridge Capital, are blazing a trail. Glenn Dubin, who founded the firm 23 years ago, recently handed over control to his “baby,” a former Goldman Sachs banker.

Rosalind Mann, who has spent the past five years as an investment consultant at Towers Watson, has joined the UK strategic solutions team at Schroders, which has six members and is led by Mark Humphreys.

The wealth management firm St James’s Place has announced the launch of an initiative to promote women at its academy, an entity which offers professionals with strong potential a means to train in financial advising and to work with St James’s.

Allianz Global Investors a réduit ses effectifs de 150 personnes après avoir lancé une réorganisation stratégique, rapporte le Financial Times funds management. Cela ramène les effectifs à 1.650 employés. La maison allemande a indiqué avoir externalisé plusieurs postes dans l’informatique, le middle et le back-office.

After expanding by more than 40% in 2012, growth momentum in the Philippines’ retail fund industry continued into 2013, according to Cerulli. By the end of June, assets under management (AUM) in unit investment trust funds (UITFs) had reached PHP385 billion (US$8.9 billion), while AUM of mutual funds had breached PHP200 billion for the first time. Cerulli Associates believes that the Philippine retail fund industry is still in its infancy and remains restricted, not helped by bouts of regulatory inertia. However, there have been some positive leads. For instance, the Philippine Stock Exchange is now accepting listing applications for exchange-traded funds (ETFs) following approval by the Securities and Exchange Commission on the final component of ETF guidelines, paving the way for their longawaited debut. In the UITF segment, feeder funds and funds of funds (FoFs) received the green light from Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas in September last year. On the institutional side, the Government Service Insurance System (GSIS) is currently considering relocating assets abroad. Also, although the Social Security System (SSS) has always been managing its assets-which are 100% local-in-house, moving toward foreign investment is necessary due to limited market capitalization in the Philippines. As such, advisory services will be needed, and mandates are likely to be handed out to foreign managers.

Mirabaud Asset Management has received a license in Luxembourg to launch its global convertible bond fund, Citywire Global reports. It will then be released in Europe. The firm had announced the creation of such a fund when it recruited Nicolas Cremieux, a former Dexia manager. The fund had previously been in incubation.

The British investment firm GLG Partners has liquidated a fund dedicated to emerging market equities, only nine months after its launch, Citywire reports. The management of the Dublin-based fund, GLG Global Emerging Markets Equity fund, was no longer profitable. Assets under management totalled only USD14m at the closure of the fund on 30 July this year. Since its launch in November 2012, the fund lost 10.5%, compared with a loss of 4.96% for the benchmark index, the MSCI EM TR USD.

M&G will launch a Global Corporate Bond fund for Ben Lord next week, Investment Week has learned. The manager is already responsible for a series of bond funds, including the Short Dated Corporate Bond fund. With the new fund, Lord will aim to invest in corporate bonds worldwide, with a less marked bias for British corporate bonds than with other portfolios from the group.

The British ETC provider ETF Securities has announced that it has signed a partnership with the Royal Mint, by which retail shareholders in Gold Bullion Securities (GBS) listed in London will be allowed to exchange their shares for sovereigns or Brittania coins, the most popular gold coins in the United Kingdom.ETF Securities claims to be the first ETP provider to offer such an option, which is made possible due to the physical gold backing of GBS, which was launched in 2004, and which currently has assets of USD4.6bn.

After several delays, the European Commission has decided to unveil its “roadmap” for regulation of the shadow banking sector on Wednesday. The initiative at present includes only one piece of legislation, concerning money market funds whose rists are underestimated in the opinion of the Commission. They will in the future be required to have a “liquidity cushion” equal to 3% of the net value of assets, according to a draft which is still subject to modifications. Managers will also be required to “cease to base themselves on external credit ratings,” which would provide a false promise of stability in the immediate sale value of securities, and instead develop an internal ratings system, the newspaper says. The European Commission is also focusing on the various forms of “credit financing transactions,” ranging from repo to securities lending, which have been developed since 2008 as collateral requirements have become more systematic.

JP Morgan will merge nine sub-funds as part of a reshuffle of its range of European funds, Citywire global reveals, with a list of the products concerned. Eight other funds, whose names are not yet known, will be merged in the next two months.

The Italian government has exempted pension and sovereign funds from paying the financial transaction tax (FTT), which will be introduced on 16 October, IPE.com reports. The Minister of the Economy, Fabrizio Saccomanni, has announced that sovereign funds will not have to pay tax on investments they make in government debt, while pension funds are exempt from tax on the entities or organisations in which they traditionally invest. He added that the purchase of shares or any operations related to ethical funds, or the management of ethical or socially responsible portfolios would not be exempt from the tax.

The New York-based asset management firm Oppenheimer Funds Inc (OFI) has announced that it has reached an agreement in principle with lawyers representing the plaintiffs in six class-action lawsuits concerning the performance of the Rochester National Municipals, Oppenheimer AMT-Free Municipals, Oppenheimer Rochester Fund Municipals, Oppenheimer Rochester AMT-Free New York Municipal Fund, Oppenheimer New Jersey Municipal Fund et Oppenheimer Pennsylvania Municipal Fund at the height of the financial crisis in 2008.OppenheimerFunds has agreed to pay USD89.5m, which will be distributed to the plaintiffs. The cases had been filed in Colorado Federal court.OppenheimerFunds states that the agreement does not include a class-action lawsuit related to the performance of the Oppenheimer California Municipal Fund, also in 2008, as it maintains that that claim is baseless.

With the assistance of Rheinishce Portfolio Management, which is responsible for managing its portfolio, and the Munich-based extra-financial ratings agency oekom reseach, for the sustainable development aspect, Warburg Invest has released a diversified fund for sale which invests in equities in German companies which are well-rated for their environmental, social and governance performance, in German inflation-linked bonds and gold, to be entitled Transparente Invest.The portfolio will be constructed on the bases of risk parity. Equities will be selected according to their inclusion in the sustainable development index DAXglobal Sarasin Sustainability Germany. The fund was launched on 18 February, and is aimed primarily at “defensive” investors.CharacteristicsName: Transparente InvestISIN code: DE000A1JUVV7Front-end fee: 0%Management commission: 0.75%Depository banking commission: 0.05%Minimal subscription: EUR1,000